The flooring market frequently utilizes polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a material for a base substrate in a multi-billion dollar market that continues to exhibit substantial growth. However, regulatory pressures are driving leading flooring manufacturers to actively seek PVC-free alternatives. The environmental and regulatory pressures are due to long-suspected PVC health hazards and well known end-of-life waste management challenges. Additionally, it is well documented that PVC contains migrating additives (plasticizers) that are observed to cause odor and have been implicated as potential health hazards. It is also a known fact that PVC releases highly toxic chemicals when burned or improperly disposed of at the end of its useful life cycle. Because of these issues, various regulatory agencies around the world are pressing for a ban on PVC. The European Union has been particularly aggressive in pursuing regulatory action and has banned PVC use in toys and is considering a full ban. All of these actions negatively impact the consumer's perception of PVC and are requiring manufacturers, including flooring manufacturers to urgently seek a suitable alternative.
Despite the high pressure to replace PVC in applications such as flooring, it has been difficult to find a suitable alternative material because of PVC's inherent features of low cost, durability, moisture resistance, tailored stiffness, dimensional stability and flame retardancy. Various products have been developed to replace PVC to date but none have offered a price-to-performance ratio to make them attractive for broad commercial utility in the flooring market. Furthermore, none of the non-PVC alternatives have been of significant commercial utility for the rapidly growing laminate flooring market segment where a relatively thick, stiff and moisture resistant substrate is required to enable efficient and innovative installation in various forms and applications.